Last Week Tonight was off yesterday, which means we’ll be getting some great web exclusives from the HBO show these next few weeks. This time, John Oliver decided to use the platform to do “the most Internet thing imaginable,” AKA complain about superhero movies.
Oliver talks about the huge influx of superhero movies these days including Deadpool (“Mean Spider-Man”), Batman v Superman (“Sad Man vs. Super-Sad Man”), and Suicide Squad (“Insane Clown Posse Takes Manhattan”). The host then shares his own superhero pitch for those experiencing superhero fatigue and who want to look “beyond the Marvel and DC universes.”
Enter Johnny Strong, who has all the makings of our favorite heroes—a double life, nemeses, and an aversion to the clarinet. Here’s his synopsis, as told by Oliver:
By day he is mild-mannered 5th grader John Olivier, no relation, but from the time school lets out until dinner he becomes the, let’s say, unconventionally handsome hero, Johnny Strong.
Johnny Strong is a kick-ass hero with a bad attitude. He’s seen a boob and he knows what the f word is.
He intrepidly battles villains such as Doc Bedtime, a monster made of blankets who can magically plunge the world into total darkness. And, of course, there’s the dreaded Mrs. Thomas the clarinet teacher. No, Mrs. Thomas, the clarinet is not the electric guitar of the mouth. You’re a charlatan and I don’t want to play it! I don’t want to play it! … Johnny doesn’t want to play it.
Issue one, titled Night Moves, follows Strong when a mutant monster who’s totally not the family cat keeps breaking into the Olivier household at night. While the first issue ends on a shocking and precarious cliffhanger, we can bet that issue two will be just as riveting as we dive deeper into the complex psychology of our grieving 5th grade hero. Are you listening Hollywood?
Last Week Tonight comes back September 25th, and Johnny Strong comes out…hopefully soon?
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